Bibby lobbies for more longer trailers

Bibby Distribution is lobbying the Department for Transport to extend its current allocation of 15.65m trailers after reaching the 25 originally allocated under the trial scheme.

It has just taken delivery of a dozen of the longer semi-trailers adding to the 13 identical Don-Bur trailers which joined the fleet in 2012. But the company reckons it could make use of another 25.

The DfT has announced that it is unlikely to reach the total target allocation of 1,800 units by the cut-off date of 31st December 2013. The 15.65m trailers are 2.05m longer than the current maximum and give about 13 per cent more load capacity.

Paul Kavanagh, Bibby’s chief operating officer, said: “We see huge potential for use more LSTs in our operation. The extra load space they offer is allowing us to drive efficiency improvements across a number of key accounts and we’re keen to use this latest innovation with more of our customers.”

Last year Bibby put its first LSTs to work across three major contracts. This included three within the operation of Saint Gobain Isover, eight into Plastic Omnium and two for a beverage can manufacturer. The next 12 are currently in the process of being delivered and will enter service on contracts by September 2013.